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Open Systems: Physics, Metaphysics, and Methodology

Published Apr 15, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Abstract Open Systems: Physics, Metaphysics, and Methodology argues that many of the most illuminating questions in contemporary science are best approached by treating systems as inherently embedded in, and interacting with, their environments. While closed-system modelling has long dominated physics, recent advances—from non-equilibrium thermodynamics and open-system quantum dynamics to complex systems science and quantum causal modelling—show that environmental coupling is often not a dispensable complication but a defining feature. Bringing together leading scholars across physics and philosophy, this volume develops the “open systems view” and probes its limits. Part I sets out the view within quantum theory and clarifies its relations to alternative frameworks. Part II traces open/closed concepts across the history and practice of physics, from Newtonian celestial mechanics to blackbody radiation, gravity with boundaries, and biological emergence. Part III turns to the largest scales, examining cosmology, many worlds, and realism about the universal quantum state. Throughout, contributors connect formal tools—density matrices, Lindblad dynamics, interventionist causation—with methodological and metaphysical stakes, including autonomy, reduction, and fundamentality. The result is a unified guide to modelling, explanation, and ontology when closure is an idealisation rather than a premise.

DOI
10.1093/9780198929277.001.0001

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WIT transactions on ecology and the environment•Jan 1, 1970•0 citations
Abstract Open Systems: Physics, Metaphysics, and Methodology argues that many of the most illuminating questions in contemporary science are best approached by treating systems as inherently embedded in, and interacting with, their environments. While closed-system modelling has long dominated physics, recent advances—from non-equilibrium thermodynamics and open-system quantum dynamics to complex systems science and quantum causal modelling—show that environmental coupling is often not a dispensable complication but a defining feature. Bringing together leading scholars across physics and philosophy, this volume develops the “open systems view” and probes its limits. Part I sets out the view within quantum theory and clarifies its relations to alternative frameworks. Part II traces open/closed concepts across the history and practice of physics, from Newtonian celestial mechanics to blackbody radiation, gravity with boundaries, and biological emergence. Part III turns to the largest scales, examining cosmology, many worlds, and realism about the universal quantum state. Throughout, contributors connect formal tools—density matrices, Lindblad dynamics, interventionist causation—with methodological and metaphysical stakes, including autonomy, reduction, and fundamentality. The result is a unified guide to modelling, explanation, and ontology when closure is an idealisation rather than a premise.
Abstract The study of open systems is a cornerstone of many scientific disciplines outside physics. Across the biological, social, and cognitive sciences, systems are commonly understood in terms of their interactions with an environment. This is because, at a fundamental level, the entities studied in these disciplines are rarely, if ever, isolated. While openness is often taken as a given in the special sciences, physics has historically developed with a strong emphasis on closed-system modelling. The success of Newtonian mechanics, classical thermodynamics, and quantum mechanics has to a large extent relied on the ability to isolate and describe systems in terms of well-defined boundary conditions. However, recent developments suggest that the importance of open systems is gaining increasing recognition even within physics. In this introduction we introduce the general topic of open systems in physics and the open systems view, and we summarise each of the other chapters of the volume.
There is a deeply entrenched view in philosophy and physics, the closed systems view, according to which isolated systems are conceived of as fundamental. On this view, when a system is under the influence of its environment this is always described in terms of a coupling between it and a separate system, which taken together are isolated. There is an alternative, the open systems view, according to which systems interacting with their environment are conceived of as fundamental, and the environment’s influence is represented via the dynamical equations that govern the system of interest’s evolution. In this paper we propose (although the formalism is not original to us) a theoretical framework which we call the general quantum theory of open systems (GT), within which one can make sense of the dynamics of open quantum systems in fundamental terms, and we argue that the open systems view, as formalized in GT, is fundamental in quantum theory.
There is a deeply entrenched view in philosophy and physics, the closed systems view, according to which isolated systems are conceived of as fundamental. On this view, when a system is under the influence of its environment this is always described in terms of a coupling between it and a separate system, which taken together are isolated. There is an alternative, the open systems view, according to which systems interacting with their environment are conceived of as fundamental, and the environment’s influence is represented via the dynamical equations that govern the system of interest’s evolution. In this paper we propose (although the formalism is not original to us) a theoretical framework which we call the general quantum theory of open systems (GT), within which one can make sense of the dynamics of open quantum systems in fundamental terms, and we argue that the open systems view, as formalized in GT, is fundamental in quantum theory.
Open quantum systems describe quantum systems that interact unavoidably with their environments. These notes introduce the physical origins of decoherence and dissipation in realistic settings, developing the theoretical framework of reduced dynamics and quantum master equations within the connection to thermodynamics in the quantum regime. Additionally, a set of relevant exercises are proposed to reinforce the acquisition of knowledge. The text equips readers with the tools to model and analyze open quantum dynamics.
Abstract There is a deeply entrenched view in philosophy and physics, the closed systems view, according to which isolated systems are conceived of as fundamental. On this view, when a system is evolving under the influence of its environment, this is always described in terms of a coupling between it and a separate system which taken together are isolated. In this chapter, we introduce the theoretical framework that we call standard quantum theory (ST), formulated in accordance with the closed systems view, and we consider approaches to interpreting the formalism of ST that take it to be complete in some sense. Broadly speaking, these can be grouped into two families. The first includes (neo-)Bohrian and related approaches, the second (neo-)Everettian. We argue, from the point of view of each, that although ST is formulated in accordance with the closed systems view, it is nevertheless ontologically committed to open systems in a way that other, for instance, classical, theoretical frameworks are not. We close with the suggestion that philosophical and foundational progress may be made through the adoption of an alternative theoretical framework, which might in principle involve a change in corresponding view, within which one can make sense of open systems dynamics in fundamental terms.
Epistemological closure of the natural world, inferred by Newtonian metaphysics, provides a point of departure for formally exploring the question, What is environment?'. This question leads to the open universe conjecture of Popper that the world is epistemologically open. In the ontological Many Interpretation (MW) of Quantum Mechanics and the epistemological logic theory of Possible Worlds (PW) for example, each choice of a particle or a proposition for a path to follow implies that all choices are in fact followed and all possible worlds thereby entered. Such openness suggests that PW concepts might be employed to shed light also on the question of Environment. Exploring this leads to recasting classical mechanistic causality in more ecologically consistent directions. This paper expands a Newtonian environmental theory (Theory of Environment: Patten) in epistemological directions more compatible with the open-universe and PW-hypotheses. Deterministic interpretations of Quantum Mechanics, are favored over orthodox, indeterministic Copenghagen interpretation. Quantum principles are incorporated into PW theory by replacing traditional logic with fuzzy, modal and temporal logics which better reflect ecological realities. The new resulting PW-logic is the employed to extend Environ Theory. The following specific results are obtained; (1) possibilistic ontology and actualistic epistemology are linked; (2) possibilistic and existential sets and functions are defined; (3) possibilistic and existential processes are clarified; (4) expansions of input (creaon) and output (genon) environments (from Environ Theory) are achieved